The man whose death I seek
by Sassyspoon
Summary: Let's see how this goes.
1. Chapter 1

I came out of the surgery room, pulling the back the white curtain to exit. Maria stood next to the instrument table and took the scalpel from me, putting it into a beaker half filled with clear liquid before giving me a new pair of gloves. I nodded in thanks but she barley glanced at me, keeping her gaze fixed on the floor. I sighed and and lifted up her chin searching for her eyes, dropping any emotion left in mine. "Are you afraid, Maria?" I asked, my voice dripping with venom, "Afraid of looking me in the eyes?" She nodded and I could feel her cower beneath my gaze. I laughed at her afraid, child like expression and jerked her head, letting it go as I turned towards the next room.

"She is the last one. Have my dinner ready." I said snapping my gloves on.

"Yes, miss."she answered in a way of reply and I heard her voice shake with fury. With the fury that someone as young as me had the power and capability, to overpower her.

I dropped my hateful expression the minute I heard the door leading out of the room close with a soft click, surprised I could hold such hate against someone. Shaking my head I walked into the room, a smile spreading on my face as I caught sight of the whimpering girl, tied with leather straps on the sterile table.

I washed my hands thrice before coming into the dining room, a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen. Dio was already there and I dropped a kiss on his forehead before taking my place, sitting so we were face to face. He smiled through a mouthful of food as Maria entered the room. I sat up straighter and a small smile crossed my lips when I saw her hands shake as she put the plate down in front of me. I looked at the food and nodded in approval.

"Thank you, you can leave now." I said, taking in a breath letting the smell of the food envelop me. She nodded and quickly shuffled off, cradling her hands as she left. I remember breaking one of them and the smile returned. I picked up my fork, turning my food over and over again in my plate, in a poor attempt to cool it faster when someone cleared their throat from across the table and I returned my attention to the boy in front of me. A smile crossed my lips again, but this was different.

He looked good. Better than he'd looked in days.

 _How did we get here? Him sitting across from me perfectly fine? Hadn't he burned up with the house? He never told me how and I never asked him. There was much more to him than he actually let on but if he didn't trust me yet with his secrets, I was in no position to pry._

Three years ago my mother had sent Dio to protect me, to keep me safe from her raging mad husband. My father had an unhealthy obsession and my mother had realised that-only too late. So she sent me an angle, a spirt to protect me and help me, to guide me to destroy what my father was doing, to avenge the harmed, to avenge the broken families. My father thought that he had successfully scarred Dio, successfully sent him to the edge of insanity but he didn't understand that to truly break a person, scars were not enough. Yes he had nightmares. Yes, he was afraid. But the boy with a scar on the outside was anything but broken on the inside.

I thought his face was fine but he wanted me to fix it, so I did, realising that I had the same powers my father and Maria did. I wasn't as good though and there was a scar over his eye, small but visible nonetheless. I thought the scar would ruin his beautiful face but it just made his features stand out stronger. His hazel brown eyes shined against the lights of the room and I had to push away the urge to run my hands through his hair. I fixed my gaze unto his, holding his stare, flinching when I saw the hurt and sadness registered in them. Those emotions that had once been for himself, for all he had lost, for all the people he had seen die were now for me. I could see it and I quickly looked back down at my food, knowing what was coming.

"Aya.." he started quietly. I shook my head, not wanting to start this conversation again, not when Maria was in the next room probably listening. Definitely listening. I fixed my eyes on his and shook my head again, flickering my eyes towards the kitchen door. He seemed to understand and left me to enjoy my dinner which was starting to get cold.

I rose from the table a while later, placing my napkin on top of my empty plate. Dio stood waiting for me leaning on the doorframe. I walked to him and took the arm he held out for me, smiling at the sweet gesture. As my bedroom door came into view we broke apart and I immediately missed his warmth. I sighed, opening the door with a key. I had to keep it locked because of Maria. Had to keep the truth hidden in my own home. Before I entered I heard Dio, his voice whispering my name, willing me to listen. Turning to him I again saw the sadness I'd seen in the dining room as he took my hand in his and turned his gaze to the floor. He wasn't going to let this go was he?

I lifted his chin, making him look me in the eye. He did and held my stare.

"Aya." he began again. I looked both sides before pushing open the door and ushering him into my room, still not confident that Maria didn't know where we were.

"My father is alive, Dio."

The words spilled out of me, faster than I would've liked, harsher than I'd actually intended. How my father had not burned down with the house like we had thought. How he'd actually been rescued by the man in the black suit whose identity was still a mystery to us. I'd found the letter only a few days ago. His letter addressed to me. No doubt Maria had one too.

I watched him as I spoke, watched his mouth set into a hard line and his body stiffening, jerking at every little sound.

"I'm going to stay here tonight. And every other night until we figure this out." he said after I'd finished. I nodded, knowing fighting would be useless. He made himself comfortable, tucking me against him as we lay together, his hands finding my hair and running his hands through them. I let out a little sigh, glad for this one moment of peace in my world full of horror and turned around to the window wishing that things weren't so hard. Wishing that mom was alive. Wishing that my father was dead. Then I saw him, my moment of peace shattering into a million unseeable pieces. Standing outside my window, the moon being the only thing illuminating his lean figure. Casually leaning on a tree, wearing glasses that glinted in the sliver moonlight and a white lab coat, stained with the blood of the now dead and scarred, stood my father. Back from wherever he had been.

 _Back from the dead._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

I stood up, knocking Dio's hands off of me and held on to the edge of my bed, steadying myself. "Dio." I began, calm and composed like nothing was wrong. He heard the warning in my voice and I saw a brief flash of fear in his eyes before it was gone, replaced by determination. A mirthless chuckle escaped him as he caught my eye.

"He's finally here isn't he?"

I nodded and watched him as he turned to face the window, a little smile playing on his lips. Walking to the window, he slowly slid the lock into place with. Just as the window locked into place, my father moved. He ran at a speed a man of his age wasn't supposed to and in the blink of an eye stood in front of the window, eye to eye with Dio. A sick smile graced his face as he slowly raised his hand, laying it palm down, on the glass. On it was a word.

 _Mine_.

His other hand came up to the window while we were distracted and smashed the glass, sending shards of broken pieces everywhere. I heard Dio scream as one pierced his eye and I just stood there.

Staring. Wanting it all to go away.

Dio turned to my father, slowly taking steps backwards, towards me. To defend me, I realised with a start. I watched my father slink into the window, the smile never leaving his face. Dio hunched his back, spread his legs and bent his knees, waiting for the blow to come. My mad father just stood, poised to attack but not striking, yet. Like a snake, waiting to bite. Suddenly, pain streaked up my side and I doubled over, distracting Dio, giving an opening for my father to make his move.

I screamed his name and satisfied that he'd heard me I turned to my attacker. Maria stood in front of me, brandishing a hot iron rod laced with my blood.

 _Stupid_ , _stupid me._

I gave her duties in the kitchen where she would have easy access to fire and iron rods, apparently. A smile so very like my father's lay on her face and her eyes, gleamed with unquenched hatred and anger. She thrust the rod in my direction again, deepening the cut with a practiced hand.

 _When did she practice?_

The pain grew and I fell onto my knees, tears and blood mixing as I screamed in pain. Maria got ready to attack again and I whimpered uselessly, paralysed. I heard Dio scream my name. I heard my father scream at Maria that he needed me alive.

 _All the more to work with._

So much noise. All I wanted was a little time. A little time to rest my eyes.

I was so, so done with this that maybe Maria killing me wouldn't be so bad after all. My father would have my body preserved and I, my freedom from this ruined life.

 _Aya._

I opened my eyes.

 _You're going to be okay, little star._

I stood through the pain.

 _You're going to be alright._

I slipped out the daggers strapped to my thigh.

 _Be brave, darling._

Brandishing one dagger, I advanced, hiding the second one behind my back.

Uncertainty flashed in Maria's eyes as she realised I wasn't as undefended as she had thought I was. I walked slowly, wincing as the pain cut into my side. "You can run, Maria. You can run and I wouldn't even care. Not really." I said, grasping threads for time. She smiled and raised her hand with the poker in it. "After all you did, _mistress_ ," she jeered, "revenge was a long time coming." I ignored the fighting going on behind me and stood up straighter. Maria charged with the poker, running towards me with a rage I'm sure I deserved. I side stepped her attack and sliced the side of her abdomen.

 _Defence was as necessary as offence ._

She screamed and turned, putting her free hand on her cut, trying to stop the blood. I grimaced at my own pain and waited for her to charge again. I didn't have to wait long. This time she ran aiming to my right and then just as she came close, faked her attack to my left. I blocked the rod which was now slightly cool, with my dagger and aimed the other one towards her neck. Rethinking my aim I moved the point towards the thigh. She would be no use to me dead.

 _Aim, breathe, release._

Maria's shout of pain was a sound I welcomed. She dropped her rod and fell on her knees, rocking herself and crying. I picked up her weapon of choice and used it to knock her out before she could say anything that would convince me to kill her.

Wiping the blood and tears off of my face I turned to my father, still duelling with Dio. His face was now streaked with blood, his or Dio's, I did not wish to know. His glasses were cracked and there was a long gash on his right arm. I then turned to Dio and blanched. There was a piece of glass in his eye, going deeper by the second. A trail of blood from the wound, dripped off his chin, gathering on the collar of his shirt. A scar graced the back of this neck, a long winding gash on his abdomen and a nail sticking out of his thigh. He back stepped as my father advanced, hitting Dio on the head with a piece of wood. Again and again and again until my Dio, the brave, brave boy who had come to me in my time of need, slumped on the ground, his hair caked in blood and his eyes drooping in defeat. I strangled the scream that threatened to escape me when my father turned his eyes to me, his eyes showing happiness, greed, tiredness and compassion.

"Aya." He breathed, so low I wouldn't have caught it if the room hadn't been so silent. When I failed to respond he spoke again, this time louder. "Aya." I raised my dagger and staggered back as he threw his piece of wood on the floor. He walked towards me, hesitating slightly and increased his pace once he figured I wasn't going to pierce his body with my dagger just yet. He came closer and embraced me as I stood and took in his scent, trying to decipher the lingering, tangy smell that was new. With a jerk I realised that it was the smell of blood. Dio's blood. I grimaced and pushed my father with one hand while tightening my grip on the dagger with the other. Shock registered on his face, followed by amusement and then laughter. "I'm not going to harm you, dear heart, I love you too much for that." I subtly walked a few steps back, my back hitting the wall. "Except for your nose." He sighed, as if this conversation was draining his energy. "You have your mother's nose." I laughed at that. "Would you want to change it then, father? Or are you going to be kind and understanding if I want to keep it?" His eyes flashed with anger, the wild, mad kind. "Of course I'm going to change it. It's ruining the rest of your pretty face." He said, his voice rising.

I struck.

Pushing myself from the wall, I swung the hilt of the dagger to his left side and quickly changed hands, stabbing his other side before he could react. Clutching the wound he moved backwards slowly and reached for the piece of wood he had thrown earlier.

"No." I yelled and threw my dagger, my last line of defence at his face. It hit his shoulder. He creamed in raw pain and I ran to pick up Maria's iron rod. My father was slowly getting up from his crouched position and whimpered as I towered over him with the iron rod. "Aya, why are you doing this?" He asked, his brown eyes glittering through his cracked glasses. I felt the tears rain down my cheeks, "Because I don't want to die, papa. I want to love, I want to live, I want to be alive." He shook his head, sympathy in his eyes. "You will rot, dear heart. You will rot and then I will have to burn you like your mother. Your pretty face must be conserved, Aya, you will be my treasure. An even greater one than you are now."

I pointed the rod at his head and smiled through my tears. "I will gladly rot if it means I can live to see my own children's children. I will much rather rot, father, than be forever preserved as a glass eyed doll."

Raising the rod above my head using both hands I prepared to strike, only to be interrupted by a set of hands on my neck, blocking the air to my lungs. I was raised off the ground and I think I screamed, but quickly shut up as the flow of air was cut off completely. "You told me you were prepared," said a familiar voice, the voice of my killer. "She was waiting for me. She was even better." My father choked on his on blood, his words coming out slurred. I was hurled to the ground and saw the tips of shiny black shoes caked with blood before the darkness claimed me.

I woke up to the sounds of the very large clock in the hall. Rubbing my head to I shivered as I remembered the events of yesterday. I looked towards the window, trying to discern the time. It was around noon. Quickly checking my self I found that the wound Maria had made had cauterised itself and except for a few very large, very bloody cuts, I was alright. Then I looked around for Dio. He lay across from me his chest moving ever so slightly.

 _Still alive._

I didn't realise I was holding my breath until I saw Maria. She lay to her side, a large bruise on her forehead, in her own pool of blood. I smiled at her invalidity and at the punishment yet to come. The clock chimed again and I started to move, grimacing as everything hit me all over again. The pain to my side throbbed until I had to clench my fingers to keep the screams in. I'd lost a lot of blood so the room spun. I walked, stumbled and crawled haphazardly through the red floor and then some until I reached the medical part of the house. Painfully raising myself up onto a seat high enough to reach the medical supplies, I ripped open my clothes, gagging at the wounds that laced my body. The large circle of dried blood was courtesy of Maria and so was the constant pain that laced my side. I wet a swab of cotton and winced as the cold water washed away a strangers blood from my body. Then going for an antiseptic I cleaned the wound and the rest of my wounds, wrapping bandages around them to ease me of my suffering.

I walked back into the room and watched as Maria and Dio lay on the floor, red on their hair, their faces and the deathly pale complexion of those who had lost too much blood. Walking towards my brave defender I lifted him up onto one of the wheel chairs and walked him back to the medical room. His eye took me an total of two and a half hours. An hour to take out the biggest piece, an hour to take out all the smaller ones, and minutes here and there to tell myself to focus and not to cry.

 _You'd think after so much trauma one would learn how to be stronger._

Finishing up with his face I cleaned the gashes on the rest of his body and wrapped them around with a white bandage. His hair flopped over his bandaged eye and I grimaced, knowing that there be a lager scar on it. I'd cleaned the blood and grime off his face but you could still see the tracts the tears had made on his face. I was so afraid. So very very afraid. For him, for me. What would I do now? How would I do what I must? I sat down beside his bed and stared at the white wall I front of me, until I heard the clock chime again. Another hour had passed.

Quickly rising up from the chair I walked to the slaughtered room and lifted up Maria with nearly not enough gentleness, onto the wheel chair. Making sure to bump the chair every change I got, I moved her to the another one of the five surgical rooms and stripped her of her clothes. As a rule, I kept all the surgical rooms bare. There was a bed with a metal frame and a long, hard mattress. An examination table next to the bed. A chair. No window. No other doors to exit from. All these pieces of furniture were sealed onto the floor and both, the bed and the examination table had leather straps attached to them. I moved her to the examination table and strapped her waist in, making sure that she be able to move her hands to undo the straps once she awoke. Then I lay a small plastic cup of sleeping medicine, a cup of antiseptic, cotton and a few bandages. Leaving a new change of clothes I locked her door, making sure it was secure and walked to Dio's room. I sat beside his bed holding his hand until I remembered how filthy I was and how desperately hungry.

I walked to Dio's bedroom and gently peeled off my clothes, grimacing as flecks of blood fell on the floor. Then preparing a bath I quickly washed myself and re applied my bandages. Wearing a towel I walked out of the room in search for clothes and stopped when I saw Dio, sitting on his bed his gaze fixed on me.

"You're okay." I whispered, barely hearing myself thought the relief I felt.

"I am." He smiled and I caught my breath at that easy grin, how close I had been to losing him. So, so close. His eyes ran down my body in one long sweep and I felt a blush rise up into my cheek.

"What happened , Aya? What happened to you?" His voice broke and I willed my self not to weep for him, for me, for us. He walked towards me and lay his hands on my waist, pulling me into a hug. I leaned into his warmth, hugging with one hand clutching the towel with the other. "I thought he was dead. I thought…" He leaned his forehead on mine and sighed. "What happened to my eye? Where's Maria?" He asked and I just stood there, not answering any of his questions, not caring because I was so, so tired. "I'm…" I broke off and fell on the cold, hard floor, depending on Dio to catch me with his broken body and an even more broken soul.


End file.
